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The Story of Mrs. Tubbs 



--- rasBS. 


(/OO years 0/t/. ) 

























































































































































































































































Copyright, 192J, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 

All Rights Reserved 


Stv 


Printed in the United States of America 



©C1A752056 



% 



To 

THE TWO 




ELIZABETHS 







The Story of Mrs. Tubbs 

Once upon a time, many, many years ago, 
there lived a very old woman and her name was 
Mrs. Tubbs. She lived on a little farm, way off in 
the country. Her little house stood on the edge of 
the woods, not very far from a village with a little 
church, and a little river with a little bridge over it, 
flowed close by the house. There was a barn too 
for cows and horses, only the woman hadn’t any 
cows or horses; she lived all alone with a dog and 
a duck and a pig. The dog’s name was Peter Punk, 




Mrs. Tubbs’s Farm 









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the duck’s name was Polly Ponk, and the pig’s 
name was Patrick Pink. The old woman called 
them Punk, Ponk and Pink for short. 

Punk and Ponk had known one another for 
many years and were very good friends. The pig 
they treated as a baby because they said he was 
very young and hadn’t much sense. 

The old woman did not own the farm although 
she had lived on it so long. The farm belonged to 
a man up in London who never came there at all. 
This man, one fine day at the end of summer when 
the leaves were beginning to fall in the woods, sent 
his nephew, a very silly young man with a red face. 


11 



VrA r; 





down from London to live in the farm-house instead 
of Mrs. Tubbs. 

Punk, Ponk and Pink and the old woman were 
all dreadfully sad at having to leave the home where 
they had been so happy together for so many years. 

As the sun was going down behind the little 
church one evening at the end of Summer when the 
leaves were beginning to fall in the woods, they all 
left the farm together. Punk in front, then Pink, 
then Ponk and Mrs. Tubbs behind. 

They walked a long, long way along the edge of 
the woods and at last when they saw a seat under a 
tree they all sat down to rest. 


13 







They all sat down to rest 








“Oh dear, oh dear,’’ Mrs. Tubbs kept saying, 
“now I have no home, no place to sleep. And me 
an old woman. To be turned off the farm after 
all these years! What shall I do, where shall I go? 
Oh dear, oh dear!’’ 

Then she stopped talking. Peter Punk and Polly 
Ponk both understood what she said because they 
had lived with her so long. Pink couldn’t under¬ 
stand because he was only a baby and he kept 
saying in animal language:—“Let’s goon. I don’t 
like this place. There’s nothing to eat here.’’ 

“I do think it’s a shame,’’ Polly Ponk said to 
Punk, “that the old woman should be turned out. 


17 







Did you see the way that stupid man slammed the 
door after we had gone? I’d like to see him turn me 
out of my house that way. I’d give him such a peck 
on his red nose he wouldn’t try it again! But of 
course she is old, very old. I often wonder how old 
she really is.” 

“She is over a hundred, I know,” said Punk. “Yes, 
it is a shame she should have to go for that stupid 
booby. ‘Beefsteak-and-Onions’ I call him. But it 
isn’t altogether his fault. He’s only sent here from 
London by his uncle who owns the farm.” 

“Well, what are we going to do with the old lady?” 
asked Ponk. “She can’t stay here.” 


19 





Thev set Pink to digging truffles 










































“We will wait till she falls asleep,” said Punk. 
“Then we’ll go into the woods and find a cave for 
her to spend the night in and cook something to 
eat.” 

“Isn’t she asleep now?” asked Ponk. “Her eyes 
are shut.” 

“No,” said the dog, “she’s crying. Can’t you 
feel the seat shaking? She always shuts her eyes 
and shakes when she cries.” 

Presently the old lady and the pig began to snore 
together. So they waked poor Pink up and all three 
went into the woods. They set Pink digging truffles 
and Polly Ponk went off to the river and caught a 


23 




fine trout while Punk got sticks together and made a 
fire. 

“Now who’s going to do the cooking?” asked Punk. 

“Oh, Pll do that,” said Ponk. 

“Can you cook?” asked the dog. 

“Indeed I can,” said Polly Punk. “My Aunt 
Deborah used to cook at a hotel and she showed me 
how. You get the fire burning and I’ll soon have 
the fish fried.” 

So very soon they had a nice meal ready of fried 
trout and truffles for the old lady. 

“Now,” said Punk, “we must go into the cave , 
and get a bed ready for Mrs. Tubbs.” 

25 






So they went into the cave and made a fine, soft 
bed of leaves. 

“What shall we do for a pillow,” said Punk. “Shall 
we use the pig, he would be nice and soft?” 

“No,” said Ponk, “Pm going to use him as a hot 
water bottle. It’s very important to keep the old 
lady’s feet warm. But I have some feathers back 
home which will make a fine pillow. They are some 
of my own which I kept last moulting season.” 

“What did you do that for?” asked Punk. 

“Well,” said the duck, standing first on one foot 
then on the other, “the fact is I’m not getting any 
younger myself and I thought that if, when I am 


27 




very old, I should get bald, I could have them stuck 
on with glue or something. I’ll fly over to the farm 
and fetch them. I know just where I put them: 
they’re in the left-hand drawer of my bureau under 
my lavender bonnet.” 

With a flap of her wings she flew over the tree- 
tops to the farm and in a minute was back again 
with the feathers in a bag. 

When they had everything ready they went and 
fetched Mrs. Tubbs and showed her the supper they 
had prepared. But the old woman would not eat 
anything but kept saying, 

“Oh dear, oh dear! What shall I do? I am turned 


29 







She cried herself to sleep 









out of house and home, and me an old woman!” 

So they put her to bed in the cave, covered her over 
with leaves and placed Pink at her feet as a hot-water 
bottle. And presently she cried herself to sleep. 

Punk and Ponk now began to worry over what 
they should do with the old woman next. 

“She can’t stay here,” said Ponk. “That’s certain. 
You see. Punk, she isn’t eating anything. She is so 
upset and she is so old. What we’ve got to do is to 
find some way to turn that booby out of the farm so 
she can go back and live there.” 

“Well, what shall we do?” said the dog. 

“I don’t just know yet,” Polly Ponk answered. 


33 



7/f r 







‘‘But in the morning before she wakes up, we must 
go back to the farm and see what can be done.” 

So next morning, while the old woman was still 
asleep, off they all went as the sun was getting up 
behind the woods. J ust before they got to the farm 
as they were crossing the bridge over the stream, they 
saw Tommy Squeak, the King of the Water-rats com¬ 
ing down for his morning bath in the river. 

“Catch him!” said Ponk. “Perhaps he’ll be able 
to help.” And they all started running as hard 
as they could after the water-rat. Poor Tommy 
Squeak was dreadfully frightened at seeing a dog 
and a pig and a duck coming after him, and he made 


37 






They all started running as hard as they could 














off for the river as fast as his legs would carry him. 
When he came to the river he jumped in with a 
splash and disappeared. Punk and Pink sat down 
on the grass and said, 

“We’ve lost him!’’ 

But Polly Ponk, running up behind, never stopped 
but dived into the river, swam under the water and 
just caught poor Mr. Squeak as he was popping into 
a hole way down at the bottom of the river. She 
pulled him up by his tail, carried him to the shore 
and put him on the grass. Then they all gathered 
round him so he couldn’t run away. 

“Now,’’ said the duck, “don’t be frightened. Stay 


41 









77 ^^ ^//gcf/^cre^ racyrrcf 


S<J /re^ COCf/c/^'^ ^e^r/ 






where you are and do as you are told and we won’t 
hurt you. Listen. Do you remember, last sum¬ 
mer, when you were stealing cheese from the pantry 
up at the farm, and you fell into a bucket of water 
and Mrs. Tubbs came and caught you? Do you 
remember?” 

“Yes,” said Tommy Squeak, shaking the water 
off his whiskers, still very frightened. 

“And she didn’t hurt you or give you to the cat. 
Do you remember?” 

“Yes,” said Tommy Squeak. 

“She let you go and told you never to come back 
again. Did she not?” 


45 



“Yes,” said Tommy Squeak. 

“You know that she is the kindest woman to 
animals in all the world, don’t you?” 

“Yes,” said Tommy Squeak. 

“Allright,” said Polly. “Now listen. A red-faced 
booby from London Town has been sent down here 
to turn Mrs. Tubbs out of her house. She is terribly 
old, as you know; we have taken her up into the 
woods. But she won’t eat her food, she is so sad, 
and we can’t do a thing with her. The Winter is 
coming on and we must get her back into the farm 
somehow. Now you are the king of the water-rats 
and this is what you must do: Call all the rats of 


47 




the river together—every one of them—thousands 
of them, and take them to the farm. Then worry 
the booby every way you can think of. Rattle the 
pans in the kitchen at night so he can’t sleep. Pull 
the stuffing out of the chairs. Eat holes in his best 
hat. Do everything you can to drive him out. Then, 
if he goes back to London Town, we can put Mrs. 
Tubbs back on the farm.” 

“Allright,” said Tommy Squeak. “I’ll do my 
best for the old woman. She certainly ought to be 
put back on the farm.” 

Then he stood up on his hind legs by the river-bank 
and facing up the stream, he gave a long, loud. 


49 








he said, “we have a job of work to do’’ 





wonderful squeak. Then he turned and facing down 
the stream he gave another. 

And presently there was a rustling sound in the 
grasses all around and a whispering sound in the 
bushes and a splashing sound from the water. And 
everywhere rats appeared, hopping and jumping to¬ 
wards him—big ones and little ones, black ones, grey 
ones, brown ones, piebald ones—families of them, 
hundreds of them—thousands—millions. And they 
gathered round Tommy Squeak the King-Rat in a 
great, great big circle. Their beady, black eyes looked 
very frightened when they saw a dog there but they 
didn’t run away because the king had called them. 


53 







Then Tommy Squeak stood up to speak to them 
and they all stopped cleaning their whiskers to listen. 

“Rats,” he said, “we have a job of work to do. 
Follow me.” And waving his paw to Punk, Ponk 
and Pink, he led the way to the farm. 

For a whole day and a night the rats worked very 
hard, trying to turn the man out. They rattled 
the pans in the kitchen at night. They pulled the 
stuffing out of his chair. They ate holes in his new, 
green hat. They stopped the clock. They pulled 
the curtains down upon the floor. But the man sent 
to London Town and got three wagon-loads of cats 
and the rats were all driven back to the river. Tommy 


55 




! > 
















Squeak came to Punk, Pink and Ponk on the second 
day and said, 

“I am sorry. We did our best, but we couldn’t 
move him.” 

So Ponk said to Punk, ‘Well, we must try some¬ 
thing else.” And they left the old woman in the 
woods and started off again. 

As they were crossing the river this time before 
they got to the farm, they saw Tilly Twitter, the 
Queen of the Swallows, sitting on the corner of the 
bridge. 

“Good-morning!” said Tilly. “You all look very 
sad.” 


59 





“Oh, Tilly,” said Punk, with tears in his eyes, 
“Mrs. Tubbs has been turned out of house and 
home.” 

“Good gracious!” cried Tilly. “You don’t say! 
Who turned her out?” 

“A man from London,” said Punk. “I call him 
‘Beefsteak-and-Onions.’ Do you think you can do 
anything to help us get her back to the farm?” 

“Certainly Pll do my best,” said Tilly, pushing 
her crown further back on her head. “I have built 
my nest over the old woman’s door for three Springs 
now. I would hate to have her leave the farm for 
good. Pll see what I can do.” 


61 





Then she flew up into the air going round and round 
in circles. Higher and higher she flew and all the 
time she sang a beautiful song at the top of her voice. 

And this is the song she sang: 

''The leaves are falling in the woods. 

Go get your travelling rugs and hoods. 

The Summer's gone; the snow'll soon he here. 

It's time to fly; but we'll come hack next year." 

Now every year when all the swallows heard Tilly 
Twitter sing this song they knew it was time for them 
to get together to fly to Africa because they don’t 
like the winter’s cold in England. So now when 
they heard it they got their children together and 


63 





snatching up their bags and bundles, they all flew 
towards Mrs. Tubb’s farm. So many of them came 
that the sky grew dark and people thought the night 
was come. And the farm-boys in the country around 
stopped their plough-horses and said, “There go the 
swallows, getting ready to fly to Africa. The frost 
will soon be here.” 

For five hours they kept coming, more and more 
and more of them. They gathered around Tilly, 
sitting on house, on the barn and the railings, on the 
gates, on the bridge and on the stones. But never 
on the trees. Swallows never sit on trees. So many 
of them came that the whole land seemed covered 


65 







with the blue of their wings and the white of their 
breasts. 

And when they had all arrived Tilly got up and 
♦ 

spoke. 

‘‘Swallows,” she said, ‘‘many years ago, when I 
first built my mud nest under the eaves of this farm, 
I had five children in my nest. They were my first 
family and I was very proud of them. That was 
before I became the Queen of the Swallows. And 
being a very inexperienced mother I built the nest 
too small. When my children grew up there was 
not proper room for them. Philip—a very strong 
child— -was always twisting and turning in the nest 


67 









and one day he fell out. He bumped his nose badly 
on the ground but it was not far to fall and he was not 
much hurt. I was just going to fly down and try 
to pick him up when I saw a large weasel coming 
across the farm-yard to get him. My feathers stood 
up on the top of my head with fright. I flew to the 
farm-house window and beat upon the glass with my 
wings. An old woman came out. When she saw 
Philip on the ground and the weasel coming to get 
him she threw her porridge-spoon at the weasel, 
picked Philip up and put him back in my nest. 
That old woman’s name was Mrs. Tubbs. She has 
now been turned out of her house and a very stupid 


69 





red-faced man is living on the farm in her place. 
We have got to do our best to turn him out and put 
Mrs. Tubbs back in her house, the same as she put 
my child back in his nest. So I have called you all 
together a week earlier than usual this year for our 
long journey to Africa, and before we leave England 
we have got to see what we can do. The first thing 
we’ll do is to stop up his chimney so his fire won’t 
burn. Then put mud all over the windows so the 
light will not come in. Bring all the straw from 
the barn and fill his bed-room with it. Take his 
best neck-tie and drop it in the river. And do every¬ 
thing you can to drive him out.” 

71 






So the swallows set to work and Punk, Ponk and 
Pink went back to the old woman in the woods. 

But after two days Tilly came to them and said, 

‘T am very sorry, but I have not succeeded. The 
cats have driven my swallows away. He has a thou¬ 
sand cats in the place. What can one do?” 

So Punk said to Ponk, “We must go out and try 
something else.” 

But Polly Ponk answered, 

“No, you go alone this time. The old woman is 
getting a cold and I must stay and look after her.” 

So Peter Punk went off with his tail dragging on 
the ground. He hung about the farm and was very 


73 




He looked into the hole 




















































































sad and wondered what he could do to drive Beef- 
steak-and-Onions out of the house. 

Presently, feeling hungry, he remembered he had 
hidden a ham-bone in the trunk of a tree behind 
the house some weeks ago and he went off to see 
if it was still there. When he got to the tree he 
stood up on his hind-legs and looked into the hole. 
A wasp flew out and stung him on the nose. He 
sat down on the grass and watched the tree for a 
minute and saw many wasps coming in and going 
out through the hole. Then he understood what 
had happened. Thousands of wasps had made a 
nest in the hollow tree. 


77 







They set upon him and stung him 



So he thought of a plan. He went and got a 
big stick and threw it into the hole in the tree. 
Then all the wasps came flying out and tried to 
sting him. He went running towards the house 
with the wasps after him and ran in through the 
back door of the house. The wasps kept following 
him—though a few stopped to sting some of the cats 
that were hanging about the back door. Then he ran 
up the stairs by the front staircase, into the bed¬ 
rooms and down by the back-stairs. In the hall he 
found Beefsteak-and-Onions, who had just come in 
from digging potatoes, with a spade in his hand. Punk 
ran between his legs and out through the front door. 


81 



When the wasps could not find Punk any more 
they thought the man had hidden him somewhere 
so they set upon him and stung him. And the 
rest of them stung all the cats they could find in 
the house and drove them away across the fields. 

Poor Beefsteak-and-Onions ran out into the yard 
and shut himself up in the barn to get away from 
the wasps. Then he laid down his spade and put 
on his coat and said, 

“Pll leave this house today. My uncle can come 
and live here himself if he wants to. But Pm going 
back to London Town. I didn’t want to turn the 
old lady out anyway. I do not believe my uncle 


83 




/ 

//aoray, hooray. 

//e'j 

O/^/ ~ C/rrc/- £?rt<47rfS 









knew anyone was living here at all. I am going 
today.” 

Punk was listening outside the door and heard 
him, so he ran off at once back to the woods. When 
he got to Ponk and Pink he started dancing on his 
hind-legs. 

“What’s the matter?” asked Ponk. “Have you 
gone crazy?” 

But all he answered was: 

“Hooray, Hooray! 

He’s going away. 

Old Beefsteak-and-Onions 
Is going today.” 

87 

^ ' 


’ > 0 




They all walked back to the farm by moonlight 





i 

I 

K 

i 

I' 

I 








Then he told them how he had at last succeeded 
and they both thought he was a very clever dog. 

It was now getting late in the evening so they 
went and got Mrs. Tubbs and they all walked back 
to the farm by moonlight. 

And the old woman was so happy to get back to 
her little house that she made them all a very fine 
supper. And Pink said, 

“I am glad to get back. There is something to 
eat here.” 

And so when the leaves were all fallen in the woods, 
and the trees stood bare waiting for the snow, they 
used to sit round the warm fire in the evenings 


91 





They used to sit round the warm fire 





























































































toasting chestnuts and telling stories while the kettle 
steamed upon the hob and the wind howled in the 
chimney above. And they never had to leave the 
farm again and they all lived happily ever after. 

THE END 


68 S '"^91 































































